Obstetrical extractor



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A. C. BUFFUM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

OBSTETRICAL EXTRACTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,453, dated August 21, 1855.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it lmown that I, ALMOND C. BUTFUM, of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented a new Instrument to Aid in the Delivery of Children, and Which I call an Obstetrical Extractor; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same.

The obstetrical extractor (of which we have a perspective view in the accompanying Figure l) consists of two finely polished steel lingers A A each twelve inches 1n length, one half an inch in width and one eighth of an inch in thickness, six inches or one half of the length being curved, and having a joint, c, 7c, two inches from the upper end of the instrument; these lingers are connected by two cross bands, C and E. The band C is eight and one half inches in length and one inch in width and connects the lingers at the upper extremity of the instrument. The band E, is fourteen inches in length, one half inch in width and of double thickness. It connects the ngers at the center of the curve. To the crossband C ar` attached six straps, eighteen inchesin length and one half inch in width; they are represented in the ligure by the letters, z', z', z', z', z', 2'.. These down straps are kept in their proper position by a third cross band D, which however is not connected with the fingers of the instrument; the down straps are made to pass through the cross band E. The lingers of the instrument, at the places where the cross bands C and E are connected with them, have in them fenestrae j, y', y', y', an inch and a quarter in length and a quarter of an inch in width. There is also a steel slide F, which is used to keep the lingers A, A, in their proper position and for other purposes, as will more fully appear when I come vto a description of the manner of using the instrument. All the bands and straps are made of sewing silk.

To prepare the obstetrical extractor for application double the cross bands C, and E, at z., it, and draw the folds through the fenestrae j, y', entering on the concave side of the ngers until the fingers are brought together, when the slide F, should be placed upon the handles A, A, taking care to keep the down straps on the inner or concave side of the lingers, and the crossbands drawn through and folded on the back or convex side of the fingers at an angle of about forty five degrees as seen in cut No. 2. The instrument thus prepared should be lubricated with soap or oil and warmed in warm water, and the patient having been placed in a comfortable position either on the back or side, the accoucheur should take the instrument in his right hand with the index fingers upon the folds of the cross bands, on the convex side of the fingers of the instrument, and having one or two of the fingers of the left hand at the presenting part of the head of the child, the instrument should be carried gently along the lingers of the left hand into the os uteri, thence over the convexity of the head of the child until the angle of the instrument (B) touches the top of the head when the slide F is removed, the lingers of the instrument gently separated and carried around the head until they meet on the opposite side, when the slide is again placed upon the fingers of the instrument which holds them lirmly together or in other Words buckles the cross bands of the web of the instrument as seen in Fig. 3 hereto attached. The force is to be applied to the down straps 17, z', the handles serving as a guide in rotating the head as the occasion requires.

What I claim as my invention isl. An obstetrical extractor, which from the peculiar form of its lingers, and by means of three cross bands interlaced by down straps (as shown in Fig. l) so clasps and supports the head of the child as that the force necessary to assist its delivery can be applied without injury to mother or child.

2. I also claim that by means of the fenestrae the instrument can be folded ready for application so small and of such shape that it can be applied more readily and with less risk and pain to the patient than any forceps or other extractor in use.

ALMOND C. BUFFUM.

Witnesses:

CHAs. A. FoWLER, C. JOHN WARREN. 

